A virtual summit of the BRICS group took place last month (November 2020). But do you know what BRICS is and what its functions are? Let’s see.
A grouping of emerging economies
BRICS is an acronym for the group of five emerging market economics in the world – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The five countries have been the main engines of global economic growth over the years. BRICS represents half of the world’s population (over 3.6 billion people). BRICS countries have a combined GDP of $16.6 trillion.
BRICS exists in the form of an annual summit in which leaders of the five countries participate. Its chairmanship rotates among its members in accordance with the order of the acronym.
Who coined the term?
It was Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill who came up with the term BRIC (sans South Africa) in 2001, claiming that the four nations’ economics would collectively dominate the global economy by 2050. The concept became a reality when Brazil, Russia, India and China came together for the first BRIC summit in 2009 in Russia. The summit focused on issues such a reform of the global financial architecture. South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group was renamed BRICS.
Aims of BRICS
BRICS seeks to intensity cooperation within the grouping and among the individual countries for more sustainable, equitable and mutually beneficial development. BRICS is emerging as an entity with diverse objectives, far beyond the original objective of reforming global financial institutions. Besides acting as a bridge between developed and developing countries, the group focuses gain an advantage in discussions relating to trade and climate change. In addition to accelerating economic and regional development and fighting poverty, it seeks to Chinese medicine.
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